I cranked up NPR while driving to work this weekend, and lo and behold, a woman of vegetable-loving ways was being interviewed. Her name is most certainly important but was never captured by my ears, but I do remember a pearl of wisdom she was imparting: chop your vegetables all in one go.
Here’s the thing: chopping vegetables for one person (or even two people) is a pretty dull task. You’re not making a ton of food to begin with, and simply cutting one tomato* or half a cucumber for a fresh salad means you’re dirtying a knife and a cutting board that will need to be washed, only to be used again the next day. Not exactly the height of efficiency or sustainable living.
However if you wash and then cut all your veggies in one go, making sure to store them in reusable containers, you just won half the battle. When it comes time to cook, your veggies are ready to rock and roll. All you have to do is get them into whatever yummy meal you’re making. No prep work required – it was already taken care of.
Need one more reason to cut your veggies? Well, increasing the surface area of any food makes it more fun to eat! The smaller you cut anything, the more bites you have to take, and the more time you have to find the texture and flavors within each piece of food. So if you want to get crazy with it, shred your veggies. Whip out that cheese grater and grate your zucchini, carrots, peppers…the whole nine yards.
Plus, pre-cut veggies make it so much easier to want to snack on them. Imagine if crackers or chips came in giant blocks you had to chip away at to munch on with ease. No bueno. Same holds true for veggies. If your icebox is stocked with cut veggies, you’re more likely to reach in a nibble on some red pepper slices.
I’m all about giving gifts to future me, and I feel like spending ten or fifteen minutes once a week getting into the veggie cutting groove is a really nutritious and kind gift that present me can give to the me of days to come.
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* Ha, like I ever eat just one tomato.
Related, a nice post by FitSugar on this subject.
Unrelated, but there’s a cute cartoon carrot here.
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